Reimtorced-cowcreterailway-tie



H. B.,-W. T. AND G. WIEBLER. 7 REINFORCED CONCRETE RAILWAY TIE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 29. 917.

' ,322,985, Patented Nov. 25,1919.

- mrnn sra'rns rarnnr @FFTCE.

HARRY B. WIEBL R, WALTER 'r. WIEBLER, AND GEO GE WIEBLER, or FORT MADISON,

' IOWA.

REINFORCED-CONCRETE RAILWAY-TIE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 25, 1919.

Application filed December 29, 1917. Serial No. 209,432.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HARRY B. WIEBLER, VVALTER T. WIEBLER, and GEORGE VIEBLLER, residing at 520 Chestnut street, Fort Madison, county of Lee, and State of Iowa, all citizens of the United States, have invented new and useful Improvements 'in .Reinforced-Concrete Railway-Ties, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in reinforced concrete railway ties, .and more particularly to that type in which heretofore metallic members having sloping sides extending transversely of the tie and embedded in the concrete body thereof have been provided for supporting the rails. The drawbacks to such a construction are the limited length of the locking sides of said members, and the weakening of the concrete body. of the tie resulting from the transverse cuts formed therein.

An object of our invention is to provide metallic rail supportsso arranged and embedded in the concrete body ofthe tie as to utilize the ends as well as the lateral surfaces thereof for eflecting a firm and secure anchorage in said-body.

. A further object is to provide elongated hollow rail supports with downwardly diverging side walls extending longitudinally of the tie and embedded therein, whereby an eflicient anchorage is produced without detracting from the strength of the tie body.

And a further object is to interpose reinforced cushioning means betweenthe rails and rail supports' v An embodiment ofour invention is shown in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which- Figure 1 is a top plan view showing the complete tie excepting wooden rail seats and spikes or screws employed therewith;

Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section-of the tie taken on line 2- 2 of Fig. 1; I

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a rail support; V

Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken through the tie on line 44: of Fig. 2; p Fig.1 5 is a detail side elevation showing the-central portion of a concrete reinforcing member employed in the tie,

Fig. 6 is a detail transverse section taken through a rail support on line 66 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a rail support;

Fig. 8 is a top plan view of a wooden block employed in a rail support;

Figs. 9 and 10 are, respectively, end and side elevations of said block;

Fig. llis a top plan view of a rail seat; I

and

Fig. 12 is a transverse section of said rail seat taken on line 1212 of Fig. 11.

The preferred form of construction as shown in the drawings comprises a substantially rectangular concrete body 1 which is rigidly reinforced by means of longitudi nally extending rods 2 and 3, the latter having V-shaped truss members 4 welded thereto, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. An exceptionally strong and durable body is thus produced to serve as a foundation for hollow' box-like rail supports 5 embedded in each end thereof. These supports are comparatively long and tapering in form so as to distribute the load imposed by the rails over a large area of the tie. The side walls of supports 5 are dovetailed in body 1, or in other words they diverge downwardly to insure a firm anchorage in said body. Supports 5 are preferably of malleable iron and formed integral therewith are bearing plates.

formed in bearin lates 6 are inclined to the supported rails 8, inorder to provide adjustment for rail securing screws 9 when rails having varying widthvof flanges are employed. Depending flanges 10 are provided on the longitudinal edges of bearing plates 6 as shown in Fig. 6. These flanges are flush with the sides of body 1 and cooperate with the upper corners thereof for producing a rigid construction.

The large ends of the hollow rail supports 5 are provided with inwardly sloping walls 11. order to facilitate the insertion of wooden blocks or wedges 12 which are shaped to conform to the interior of said supports, as shown in the several views. The function of wedges 12 after being driven securely in placeis to receive screws 9, there being holes 13 for the reception of said screws, as shown in Fig. 8. Due to the sloping sides of wedges l2 and the fit thereof to-the walls ofsupports 5, it is not necessary that the upper wedge surfaces come in contact with plates 6 to resist the upward pull of screws 9. In fact a clearance exists be- .tween said plates and wedges, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 2. This wedge con: struction forms an important part of our invention, since vibration is absorbed thereby, and replacement or repair of thewedges is rendered possible when necessary. A Wedge may be readily removed by inserting a pry'between'an end wall of a support 5 and thesmall end of the wedge, and forcing the wedge toward the large end of said'support after removal of screws 9. i Rail seats 13, which are preferably formed of wood or other cushioning material, are provided on bearing plates '6, there being ,a central rib '14 on each plate which is arranged in alinement with rails 8, as shown in Fig. 3. Eachseat 13 is provided with a groove 15 formed to fit rib 14, which construction facilitates positioning of wthe seats when assembling the parts, and cooperates with screws 9 in resisting lateral dis placement of ;the rails; lhe grain of the wood seats 13 runs transversely of the rails resting thereon, and in order to prevent undue crushing or splitting of said seats, wires 18 are wrapped thereon, as shown in Fig. 11.

Notches 17 providing clearance for screws 9 i crete of body 2,"and that the area of contact is such as to adequately support these plates when subjected to the heaviest loads.

It will also be seen that the small ends of rail supports 5; are disposed, toward each other with the "hearing or divergingends thereof adj acent the ends of the tie, the consequence being that weakening of the tie, if

any, by the insertion of said supports is re duced to a minimum. V

While we have illustrated and described 1 the preferreclform of construction for carrying our invention into effect, there might bevariations and modifications thereof without de arting from the spirit'of ourinvention. I lVe, therefore, do not wish to be lim-j ited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail ourselves of such variations and modifications as come within the scope or the appended claims.

Letters Patent of the United States:

1. A railway tie comprising a rectangular V concrete body with substantially unbroken side walls, hollow metal rail supports in serted in said body and provided with downwardly diverging sidewalls, a bearing plate formed integral with each supportand resting on said body, and wood blocks secured in said supports under the bearing plates thereof for the reception of rail securing screws.

2. A railway tie comprising a concrete body, elongated tapering hollow railv supports inserted in the top of 'saidbody and extending longitudinally thereof, dow nwardly diverging side walls. in said supports forming. an anchoring means in said body, bearing plates formed integral with said supports and having portions thereof resting on said body, wedges shaped to conform with the interior'of said supports and dis? posed under said plates, and means necting rails with said wedges.

3. A railway tie comprising a reinforced concretebody havinga flat upper surface.

and substantially'unbroken side walls, hol low metallic rail supports'inserted in said 'body so as to .be'flu'sh with said surface, longitudinally tapering and downwardly di for con-' verging side walls in said supports, a bearing plate cast integral with each support .and having extensions resting on said body,

a removable wooden wedge shaped to'conform to the sidewalls of each support and disposed under the bearing. plate thereof, there being slots in each plate, a rail. above each support, andscrews passing through said slots and connecting the rail flanges with said wedges. 1

4;. A railway tie comprising a reinforced concrete body, hollow metallic rail supports inserted in the ends of said body, there'being horizontal bottom 'walls and downwardly diverging side walls tapering toward each other in said supports, a bearing plate extending across the top of each support and having, extensions resting on saidbody, a removable wedge in each support shaped to co-nform to the side-walls thereof and disposed u'n'dersaid plate, there'being a sloplngend wall in each support to facilitate the insertion of said wedges, a reinforced wood rail seat resting'on each -plate and 7 screws for connecting rail flanges with said wedges. 5

5. A railway tiecomprising a reinforced concrete body, a hollow'metallic rail support inserted at each end of said body, downwardly diverging side walls in each support which taper toward each other, a bearing plate cast integral with-each rail support and extending across the top thereof "with ends resting on said body, dependingflanges at the ends of said plates conforming to cor? ners of said body, detachable wooden wedges conforming to said side walls and disposed under said plates, there being inclined slots in said plates, rail seats on said plates, and rail securing screws passing through said slots into said wedges.

6. A railway tie comprising a concrete cross member, a metallic box member embedded in said concrete member, and a wooden block secured in said metallic box in position to lie beneath the lower flange of the rail and extend beyond said flange on both sides, whereby fastening members may be inserted in said wooden block on both sides of said flange, the side walls of said box tapering upwardly and inwardly and said wooden block snugly fitting against said walls.

7. A railway tie comprising a concrete cross member, a metallic box member embedded in said concrete member, and a wooden block secured in said metallic box in position to lie beneath the lower flange of the rail and extend beyond said flange on both sides, whereby fastening members may be inserted in said wooden block on both sides of said flange, the side walls of said box converging and the side faces of said wooden block converging also, whereby the wooden block may be wedged into the box.

8. A railway tie comprising a concrete cross member, a metallic box member embedded in said concrete member, and a Wooden block secured in said metallic box in position to lie beneath the lower flange of the rail and extend beyond said flange on both sides, whereby fastening members may be inserted in said wooden block on both sides of said flange, the side walls of said box converging upwardly and also converging longitudinally, and the side faces of said wooden block also converging upwardly and longitudinally, whereby said block may be wedged tightly into said box and will be firmly held in position.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.

HARRY B. WIEBLER.

WVALTER T. WIEBLER. GEORGE WIEBLER. 

